All Reviews for Polynesian Cultural Center, Oahu

[Reviewed by HawaiiActivities.com Staff]

On March 15th, 2024, I went to PCC and participated in the Gateway Buffet package. This experience included admission to the park, buffet, and show. Each village was unique, and educational. The canoe ride was my favorite part of the park, a must do!

The buffet dinner was INCREDIBLE, they had everything you could imagine. From salad, sides, pork, chicken, beef, seafood, and dessert. The presentation of the food, and dinning hall felt like something out of a movie! They really set the scene for local cuisine.

'HA: Breath of Life,' show was spectacular a must see! The dancers were truly amazing! I would definitely go see it again and again. Everything about PCC was so professional, engaging, fun, and educational. There is something for the whole family.

I would recommend PCC to anyone who enjoys learning about different cultures, and has a full day to spend away from Waikiki.

We had an Absolute Wonderful Experience.. We had a group of 8 Family members.
We all Really Learned a lot about the culture.
Had the entire day package.
Thanks to Each and Every One who work to give us such an Outstanding Day. Ending with a Magnificent Breath of Life Performance.
Outstanding.

This was a full day activity. We stared on the canoe amd ended the one end. Walked to each village. At each village they are very informative on their culture. They have activities you can participate in or just watch their 15-20 min skits. The journey movies was quite amazing but moves a lot, but worth it. The buffet was absolutely the best I've ever been to! So much food to choose from. Plus there was live entertainment. We also stayed for the breath of life show, which was spectacular. Goosebumps for sure.

This was my third and final visit to the PCC over a period of thirty years . Unfortunately I was not feeling well on the day with a head cold . But I did manage to do all I wanted to.The film was great as also was the evening show
I will continue to have happy memories of my visits .You continue to provide the best

The evening show was not a typical Hawaiian luau; it had a storyline that felt reminiscent of a performance by the Shiki Theatre Company in Japan. Compared to traditional ones, it had a stronger entertainment flair, but it was very enjoyable with a nice balance of laughter and emotion.

イブニングショーは典型的なハワイのルアウでなく、ストーリーがあり、日本で言えば劇団四季の様な演出に似たものを感じました。伝統的なものに比べれば演出色が強いエンターテイメントという感じですが、笑い、感動のメリハリがありとても楽しかったです。

The hula dance performance was amazing for both adults and children, and the story and songs were also excellent. I felt like I experienced the essence of a Polynesian show, which made me forget the three-hour round trip. My wife was also very satisfied.

大人から子供まで、フラダンスパホーマンス最高、ストリー、歌も最高でした。ポリネシアンショウの真髄をみれた感あり、往復の３時間を忘れさせてくれました。奥さんも大満足でした。

Fascinating to learn about different island cultures through dance, music, games and food. The fact the performers are from those islands amazed me. They are so proud of their island and culture and language. Wish I could go back a second day ( or open earlier) so I could see and play all the games.
The Ha… Breath of life show was stunning!

We enjoyed our excursion from the bus ride to the Polynesian Centre to the bus ride back to our hotel. Our driver's name was Misi! He went above and beyond what was expected of him.

The walk through the Centre was incredible. Seeing the different islands and cultures. We took a canoe ride after walking around for about 4 hours. It was a welcome relief getting of our feet.

Our tickets included the dinner buffet. There was so much food to choose from which made it difficult to try everything. It was good.

After dinner we watched the The Breath of Life which was incredibly good. The performance was amazing. It was the perfect ending to a wonderful day.

The Cultural Center Island tour was full of amazing and helpful hosts and entertainers. I have never felt more welcome by so many people. To temper a few expectations some of the activities we expected to be interactive were instead demos by professionals only but we still had a blast doing the many activities that do allow participation and those alone filled a very full day of exploring the islands.

The Buffet was delicious had more foods than we could fit and incredibly welcoming atmosphere.

The HA Breath of life show was an amazing experience and some of the best fire spinning and hula and so much more you will get to see in Hawaii

Be warned: the gap of time between the closing of the cultural center and the opening for the final show is quite long (they do warn you about his on the bus and offer an early exit at 6pm if you decide before 4pm that you wont have the energy) but with that said it was well worth it and we were glad we stayed for the full show.

It was a great experience for the family and the buffet was amazing. We have been to Hawaii, New Zealand, and Fiji, and the shows were great. didn't expect
that much audience participation, but it made it enjoyable. Would love to go back if we weren't leaving.

How amazing, my kids really loved every island and all the work put in.

Lots to do, ending show was fabulous, and dinner all there was a great day in full!

Superbe journée. Accompagnée de Poe une super guide francophone.
On a adoré les spectacles dans chaque îlr.
Le souper Hawaïen excellent

I applied a month ago, but I could only get reservations for the meal and the show. Both the meal and the show were great, but I wanted to experience more of Polynesian culture, so please increase the number of daytime attractions.

一カ月前に申し込みしましたが食事とショーしか取れませんでした。
食事もショーも良かったのですが、もっとポリネシアの文化に触れたかったので昼間からのアトラクションの人数を増やして下さい。

Every single presentation was excellent! Kap on the Samoan stage was fabulous, entertaining and funny! Great artwork too. Enjoyed the Fiji one also, especially noting that the missionaries led them to Christ and then their idols were torn down! Learned about ancestral New Zealand which I didn’t know the name of, bur I do now! While we did not really have a guide as expected, there were always people to show us the next move when we appeared lost! The luau was good, our first ever. And enjoyed hearing the music of Wahine Elua - very good!
The theater production after the Luau was impressive too! Super talent on display, especially the spectacular fire dancer and her team! WOW!

I experienced the buffet dinner and evening show with the "Bronze Seat."
The buffet was very delicious, with a wide variety of fresh dishes that suited the Japanese palate. (The food had no greasy feeling at all, so I enjoyed it very much.)
The evening show was an incredibly powerful and immersive experience, almost like "The Lion King" by the Shiki Theatre Company. In my case, I had a "ringside" seat, so I was able to enjoy it to the fullest.

ビュッフェdinner＆イブニングショー「ブロンズ席」
を体験しました。
ビュッフェはとても美味しく、種類も豊富、新鮮で、日本人の味覚に合っていました．(ベタベタ感の全くない料理でしたのでとてもおいしくいただきました。)
イブニングショーは「劇団四季のライオンキング？」かなーと思われるぐらい迫力のある臨場感極まるショーでした。その上私の場合は、相撲で言う「砂被り」の席でしたので、迫力満点で楽しめました。

The service was great. The hosts were so friendly. The drinks were delicious. The scenery was beautiful. I definitely recommend this event.

The whole experience at the center was amazing, but the food at the Gateway Buffet was absolutely faaaaaaaaantastic! What a great way to spend the day in Hawaii, and see so many different aspects of the many Polynesian cultures that are featured at the center. Also, the evening show is a definite must-see for anyone who comes to Oahu!

Very well organized experience, we felt very welcome as well.
It was quite interesting to discover new cultures.

I booked the show and dinner course. The variety of dishes was plentiful, and there were Japanese staff members, which made me feel comfortable while dining. The taste was neither particularly good nor bad... but there were local flavor menu items, which was nice. The show was story-driven and absolutely fantastic! It's worth seeing at least once. However, this plan does not include the admission fee for the Polynesian Cultural Center, so if you want to visit the Polynesian Cultural Center, there will be an additional charge. It's a somewhat reasonable amount (I was surprised when I paid, haha), so if you have time to spare, it's fine, but considering the meal time in this tour, you won't be able to fully enjoy all the areas... Still, it was quite fun.

ショーとディナーのコースを申し込みました。
料理は品数も多く、日本人のスタッフもいて安心して食事できました。味は可もなく不可もなく…でもご当地の味付けメニューもあり良かったです。
ショーは物語仕立てで最高でした！一見の価値有りです。
ただ、このプランにはポリネシアンカルチャーセンターの入場料は含まれてませんのでポリネシアンカルチャーセンターを見たい方は別に料金がかかります。まぁまぁな金額なので(払ってビックリw)、時間に余裕のある方はいいですが、このツアーで食事の時間など考えるとすべてのエリアを十分に楽しむことはできません… でもなかなか楽しかったです。

The HA breath of life show was a hit!! we really enjoyed culture center a lot. On the way, the scenery is great also.

Overall great experience of hawaiian culture.
All 6 villages, all helpful staff and then great food in the end. And ending it with cultural show snd fire show

Not too big so you can easily experience all the different Island Cultures and activities in 5 or 6 hrs. The Gateway Buffet has a lot of variety and has quality food, including desserts. The Ha; Breath of Life performance is outstanding.
Really enjoyed our visit

What a great luau and evening, dinner was good and the Poly center had lots o cute shops!

The full day was filled with so much history, we felt lucky we chose this event on our vacation!

Fun day and a good wrap with the show and delicious dinner!

The buffet has a wide variety of dishes, but the meat is tough and the seafood seasoning doesn't suit Japanese tastes, so overall, it was disappointing. Honestly, it might have been better to skip the buffet and use nearby restaurants or food trucks. The presentation of the food was interesting, but the taste quality received low ratings even from middle and high school kids.

As for the show, I can recommend it for adults, but since it's conducted in Hawaiian and English, you would need a certain level of English listening skills and some prior knowledge of the story to fully understand and appreciate it. There was a mix-up, or perhaps there were empty seats, as I ended up in a gold seat instead of the bronze seat I was supposed to have, which was a nice surprise. It seems that the main audience consists of tourists from the mainland U.S., and it's not a tourist spot that particularly caters to Japanese visitors. Additionally, due to the timing and travel fatigue, the kids seemed to doze off and didn't appear to enjoy it much.

The air conditioning on the shuttle bus was extremely cold, even for someone like me who tends to get hot easily. It's essential to bring a jacket if you're taking the bus.

Regarding tipping the shuttle bus driver, I didn't give one this time. The driver on the way there was very engaging and kept the conversation in English enjoyable, so some travelers from the mainland did tip him. Since there were several Japanese tourists as well, I think it would be nice to tip if there were a bit more service geared towards Japanese visitors.

ビッフェの品数も多いのですが、肉類は硬く海鮮系の味付けも日本人には合わず全体的に期待できません。正直、勿体無いけどビッフェは捨てて、近隣のレストランやフードトラックを利用した方が良かったぐらいです。食事の見た目は珍しい物も多く良いのですが、味のクォリティは中高生の子供達からも評価は低かったです。
また、ショーは大人へはお勧めできますが、ハワイ語？と英語での進行ですので、ある程度の英語ヒアリング能力やストーリー内容の予習がないと理解と評価は格段に下がってしまうと思われます。手違いか、空席があったのかブロンズシートの筈が何故かゴールドシートの端になっていたのは有り難かったです。どちらかと言えばアメリカ本土からの観光客がメインで、日本人観光客を優遇してくれるような観光地ではありません。また時間帯の影響と旅の疲れで子供達はウトウトして余り楽しんだ様子はありませんでした。
送迎バスのエアコンがガンガンで、超暑がりの私でも凍える程でした。バスに乗られる方の上着持参は必須です。
個人的に気になった、送迎バスの運転手へのチップですが今回は渡していません。行きのバスの運転手は道中英語での会話で終始楽しませてくれる方なので、本土からの旅行者の中にはチップを渡していた方もいました。日本人観光客も複数組居ましたので、少々日本人向けのサービスでもあれば渡してあげれば良いと思います。

The food was amazing, the show was a class act, staff and service was excellent, very welcoming and respectful, it was though very far from Waikiki but overall a perfect ending to our vacation.

Really great evening and full day as well. full of island culture!

I had a great experience there. The people are awesome and talented and kind.
I had alot of fun and I'm so glad I was able to have that experience. I would recommend it to my family and friends.